Gavin James Rigby
01/02/2020
9:48 pm
7.7 lbs
18.5 in
My pregnancy with Gavin had been far from easy. I had an ER visit my first trimester, an ER visit my second trimester, and 3 Labor and Delivery visits my 3rd trimester. The last two visits to Labor and Delivery were for pre-term labor. After the second visit, I told myself that I wasn't going back to the hospital until my doctor told me after an appointment that he was going to deliver, or until my scheduled C-section on January 10th. This was because I was tired of being sent home after IV fluids and medication to stop my contractions. So when I started having serious cramping pain on January 2nd, I tried my best to ignore it.
James had gone to work and I was doing my best to entertain our daughter, Samantha. I had this pain most of the day but it didn't feel like contraction pain. It felt more like a constant cramping pain. The first time I went to Labor and Delivery for pre-term labor, I had this pain and they told me that if I had the pain again I needed to come back. It got to the point of being almost unbearable so I sent James a text letting him know I thought I was in labor, and called my mom to pick up Samantha.
This pregnancy was different because I had given birth to Samantha just 11 months prior. My doctor thought I'd deliver Gavin sometime in December because my body wouldn't be able to handle being pregnant again so quickly. He was worried about my incision from my C-Section with Samantha opening back up as my stomach grew bigger and that I would hemorrhage and bleed out. Because of this, he said as soon as I was dilated to a 2, he would deliver Gavin.
James and I arrived at the hospital where I was quickly hooked up to monitors and the nurse checked to see how much I was dilated. We found out I was in active labor and dilated to a 3! My sister, Mia works in the Labor and Delivery department at Davis Hospital and been given special permission to be present at my C-Section. We called her up and she was soon at the hospital with us.
Because I had known for months in advance that I'd be having a C-Section, my entire mindset was different than it had been with delivering Samantha. I was wheeled into the procedure room in the hospital bed and given a nerve blocker (I think that's what it's called??). I handled this really well which surprised everyone considering I have the pain tolerance of a baby bird.
I soon couldn't feel anything from the waist down and began having light conversation with my husband and those working on me. I felt a lot of pressure as they were trying to pull Gavin out, when my sister asked "Do you want to see him real quick?" and the nurse showed me my beautiful baby boy. I told James to go with Gavin and asked my sister to stay by me. I was expecting James to come back holding Gavin wrapped up but he wasn't coming back. It seemed that he had been gone for a while so I asked Mia to go see what was going on.
When Mia came back she explained that Gavin had had several bowel movements while still inside of me. He had swallowed amniotic fluid and meconium (the fecal matter) and it had gotten into his lungs. They were trying to suction out as much as they could but wouldn't be able to get all of it. Because of this, Gavin would be admitted to the NICU.
I was actually prepared to have a NICU baby because I thought for my entire pregnancy that Gavin would be preterm. So I was mentally prepared to hear that he'd be in the NICU. What I wasn't prepared for however, was for how long.
After I was stitched up, I was wheeled through the NICU to see Gavin. He was hooked up to monitors and had a tube going down his throat as well as oxygen. We were told that he would be on antibiotics for at least 5 days and that he'd be fed via the tube going down his throat. I realized then that we wouldn't be taking him home with us when I was discharged.
The next few days in the hospital went as best they could. I was up and moving on my own the next morning and tried to be positive. My mom and her husband, Tracy had brought Samantha to the hospital to see James and I. I also had visits from my sister and her family, as well as my best friend, Kira. I received flowers from my mom's employees at HAFB, and from my awesome Tanner Clinic family. Gavin was soon able to eat from a bottle and had the tube removed from his throat. However, he was still trying to figure out how to coordinate the suck, breath, swallow thing for when he was eating. He would hold his breath which would cause his oxygen levels to drop. Because he needed more time to figure out how to coordinate everything, we were told that he would need to stay in the NICU longer than the 5 days we had anticipated.
Gavin's NICU team made a plan that he couldn't come home until he went 5 full days without having his oxygen levels drop. That finally happened on January 15th. That night we stayed at the hospital and did a "room in" with Gavin. We got training on how to work his oxygen, how to put on his monitor, etc. It was a long night but we were able to take Gavin home on oxygen on January 16th.
Gavin was finally able to have his oxygen off on January 21st. Samantha is still learning how to be "soft" with baby brother and just stares at him when he cries but is doing well overall with the adjustment. We're so happy we have our little boy here and we're together as a family.
